Sydney priest Father Finian Egan guilty of eight child sex offences

Father Finian Egan leaves Downing Centre District Court after the guilty verdict.

ABC News: Thomas Oriti

A Catholic priest remains on bail after being found guilty of child sex offences committed in New South Wales over almost 30 years.

Father Finian Egan was on trial for seven counts of indecent assault and one count of rape between 1961 and 1987, while he worked as a priest at Leichhardt and Carlingford in Sydney, and The Entrance on the Central Coast.

The court was told he targeted girls aged between 10 and 17.

Today in the Downing Centre District Court, a jury found 78-year-old Egan guilty of the eight charges.

The ABC understands that a complaint from one of his victims in the case was upheld by the church in 2009, but it celebrated Egan's career in a mass just weeks later.

He was also allowed to conduct mass in Sydney and was given approval to do the same in Ireland, with no warning to the Irish church about the findings.

Victim condemns church's handling of case

One of Egan's victims has condemned the handling of accusations of sexual offences against priests by the church.

"They didn't do anything," said the woman who must remain anonymous for legal reasons.